Willingness to donate blood and associated factors among patient caregivers at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Ethiopia is one of the countries with a significant shortage of medical blood. Patient caregivers can serve as an important pool of potential blood donors for many reasons. However, limited data are available on the willingness of patient caregivers to donate blood in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed patient caregivers' willingness to donate blood and associated factors in northwest Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 342 patient caregivers at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data were collected using a pretested and interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were entered into EPI data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. The level of significance in the last model was declared based on a p-value of <0.05. Results: Patients caregivers' willingness to donate blood was 78.1% (95% CI: 74, 82). Attending primary (AOR = 2.91; 95% CI: 1.13, 7.54) and secondary education (AOR = 2.95; 95% CI: 1.19, 7.28), favorable attitude towards blood donation (AOR = 4.94; 95% CI: 2.62, 9.28), adequate knowledge of blood donation (AOR = 2.49; 95% CI: 1.18, 5.22), and ever donated blood (AOR = 3.95; 95% CI: 1.13, 13.84) were identified as significantly associated with willingness to donate blood. Conclusion: In this study, more than three-quarters of patient caregivers were willing to donate blood. Community encouragement and continuous awareness and motivational speeches about the need for blood donations within the community and in medical facilities would have been important to motivate patient caregivers to donate blood.

Knowledge Level, Attitude and Practice of Blood Transfusion among Caregivers attending the Paediatric Outpatient Clinic in the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

“…Most of the participants in the present study were of age group 30-39 years (54.4%). This was at variance with other studies in Ethiopia [22][23][24] and other parts of Nigeria [25,26] where younger age groups constituted most of the study participants whereas In Osogbo, [27] Nigeria older age groups predominated. The reason for this difference could not be ascertained other than variation in the age groupings in the various studies.…”

“…This was surprisingly low as almost all the participants (92.5%) knew that blood transfusion was a life-saving procedure. Higher percentages of 73.9%, 78.1% and 85.5% were reported by Oluomachi et al, [25] Kebede et al [22] and Melku et al [23] in Ebonyi state and Ethiopia respectively. In contrast, Melku et al [8] in another study in Ethiopia reported that only 46.4% participants were willing to donate blood voluntarily within the coming 6 months.…”

“…[31] Sadly, blood donation has been low as seen in Benin [29] Nigeria where only 22.1% participants had ever donated blood, Addis Ababa, [24] Ethiopia 26.4% and 36.9% in Ebonyi State, [25] Nigeria. It is worthy of note that Kebede et al [22] in their institutional cross-sectional study documented that attending primary school and above, having favourable attitude towards blood donation, having adequate knowledge of blood donation and ever donated blood were factors significantly associated with the willingness to donate blood. Also, sex, age and level of education were found to be predictors of voluntary blood donations in other studies.…”

“…Up to three quarters (75%) of the participants in the present study knew blood transfusion had complications although only about half (50.6%) of these participants knew at least 2 complications. Similarly, Kebede et al [22] in Ethiopia documented that about 86.3% knew blood transfusion can transmit infection while Melku et al [23] reported that 82% acknowledged that recipients of blood could be infected, however 75.7% knew disease(s) transmitted via blood transfusion. There was widespread perceived risk of blood transfusion including risk of HIV infection and blood incompatibilities among caregivers of children and community members in a qualitative study carried out in Uganda.…”

Determination of information, attitudes and behaviors about immune plasma donation of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19

“…As a result of the literature review, a 14-question form was created by the researchers (Suluhan et al, 2016;Kebede et al, 2022). The form includes four socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, marital and educational status) and ten questions on determining knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about immune plasma donation.…”